Levin V.I. Scientometric Indicators and Evaluation of Contribution of Scientist to Science

Abstract: The article gives a detailed account of scientometric approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of research. Different scientometric indicators of the scientist – the total number of publications and their citation, impact factor of the journals in which the scientist works are published, etc are touched. However, Levin focuses on the most commonly used indicator – Hirsch index. The definition of this indicator, various methods of calculation, accompanied by examples are presented. The point of view of J. Hirsch on the opportunities of index created by him to identify the importance and significance of the contribution of scientists to science, to compare efficiency of various scientists and to forecast the scientific achievements of the scientist is given. Critical assessment of this indicator of current scientists is also presented. The author also shares his own point of view on the matter as well as describes other scientometric indicators. Levin provides a few examples showing the inability of this and other scientometric indicators to adequately assess various aspects of scientist's activity. The author indicates risks associated with the possibility of falsification of scientometric indicators. At the end of the article the author concludes that it would be worth-while to apply the traditional expert review method to evaluating scientific activity. 

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